New York Republicans not quite as deceased as previously believed?

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

So, after hearing about how Spitzer is going to carry Democrats in to control of the New York State Senate based on his coattails come the 2006 2008 elections on MyDD, DailyKos, and the like, NY Democrats lost an Assembly seat to the GOP this week.

It's Assemblyman Amedore
"Extreme Makeover" builder offers message of change in GOP win

By PAUL NELSON, Staff writer

Republican George Amedore Jr.'s victory Tuesday over Edward Kosiur ends at least two dozen years of Democratic dominance over the Assembly seat representing Montgomery and Schenectady counties.

Unofficial results show Amedore, 38, outpolled Kosiur, 51, a Schenectady County legislator, in both counties by a total of about 2,800 votes. Amedore led Kosiur by 13,666 to 10,855.

Absentee ballots won't make a difference: About 1,450 were sent out in the two counties. Turnout was about 31 percent.

...

Politically, Amedore built enough of a base -- in a campaign of only a few weeks -- to take the seat held for 24 years by Democrat Paul Tonko of Amsterdam. Tonko stepped down to lead the New York State Energy Research Development Authority in June, forcing the special election.

[MORE]

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Amedore will have to start running for reelection yesterday if he wants to hold onto that seat in 2008.  That district is one of the few upstate with a Dem registration advantage(39%-32%) and he won the seat largely due to the fact that his Democratic opponent did not run a single ad responding to Amedore's attacks.

And, of course, the current scandal, which may blow over within the next few months or may burgeon into something huge, though the former seems more likely. (If it were just Spitzer's aides involved, it's unfortunate but not greatly harmful to Spitzer.)

Oh, certainly, I think the scandal will have blown over by then, but I don't think Spitzer will be able to resurrect those larger-than-life approval ratings he once had.  He'll have to settle for better-than-average, which really, isn't a bad place to be.